Dental hygiene is important for most people. Failure to maintain the cleanliness of a person's teeth can cause significant negative consequences such as cavities, plaque, and unpleasant odors, among others. Caring for a child's teeth can be especially problematic for many parents as most children are disinterested or uncooperative in the process. As such, parents are either forced to constantly monitor their children when brushing their teeth, participate in the cleaning themselves, or hope their child accomplishes the often unaccomplished task of a thorough teeth cleaning. As children, particularly infants, squirm and are generally unreceptive to objects entering their mouths, a parent's participation in cleaning their child's teeth is often stressful, eventful, and ultimately, time consuming. Although many of these problems are associated with children, they are also prevalent with the elderly or incapacitated.
Those known standard toothbrushes, which have a handle with a plurality of bristles at one end, often fall short of facilitating an effective and efficient cleaning of a child's teeth. This is true regardless of the whether the parent or child is doing the cleaning. For example, should a parent desire to clean his or her child's teeth, the parent is often unable to determine which teeth he or she has reached and cleaned because the cleaning end of the toothbrush is out-of-sight from the parent. Even more worrisome is the possibility of placing the end of the toothbrush in a location that initiates the child's gag reflex, or even worse, causes the child to choke. Furthermore, these standard toothbrushes generate a more time-intensive cleaning process for parents as there is only side of the brush that can clean the child's teeth. As such, parents are forced to spend a considerable amount of time to ensure a proper cleaning. These standard toothbrushes are also problematic for children or disabled persons who desire to clean their own teeth. This is chiefly because the handle is difficult to hold and operate. For example, a child's hands are often too small to effectively handle the toothbrush, thereby requiring the child to continually change his or her grip on the toothbrush. This often leads to a child dropping the toothbrush or becoming discouraged. Because most children are also trying to finish the cleaning process as quickly as possible, they often miss brushing one or more sections of their teeth, leading to an insufficient and ineffective cleaning.
Some known finger-mounted cleaning apparatuses or toothbrushes (hereinafter “FMT(s)”) have attempted to address some of the above problems, but most, if not all, have fallen short of a complete and effective solution. Similar to standard toothbrushes, some known FMTs only have the cleaning portion, e.g., bristles, placed on a particular area of the toothbrush. Therefore, the FMT is unable to effectively clean multiple teeth at the same time. Furthermore, the parent is required to spend more time to ensure a complete cleaning of the child's teeth. Some known FMTs have bristles surrounding the circumferential perimeter of one section of the toothbrush, but not along the body of the FMT. As such, these FMTs do not efficiently and effectively clean multiple sections of a child's teeth in a single instance, or in a continuous singular motion.
Some known FMTs are a hybrid-style toothbrush, as they have a portion that is sized to receive a person's finger and an elongated extension that spans to the cleaning portion, e.g., bristles. These types of FMTs are also problematic for many users and suffer from many of the deficiencies described for standard toothbrushes. For example, as there is an extension, the parent or child is unable to determine exactly where the cleaning portion is located. This leads to an ineffective cleaning as sections of a child's teeth are missed or passed over. This may also place the cleaning portion of the FMT in a location that could potentially harm the child.
Moreover, some known FMTs have the portion of the toothbrush, which is sized to receive a user's finger, placed away from the cleaning portion of the toothbrush such that the parents are unable to determine when the child is experiencing discomfort. Generally when a person experiences pain or discomfort within their mouth there is a natural tendency to close the mouth slightly. Those FMTs that do not have the finger portion within the proximity of the cleaning portion, do not allow the parent to effectively measure when the child's jaw/mouth is closing. Any FMTs that do have the finger portion within the proximity of the cleaning portion do not simultaneously prevent the user's finger from being injured should the child's teeth close on the body of the FMT, as the body of the FMT is typically formed from a thin piece of material.
Other known FMTs have portions of the body that are often hard and uncomfortable to many users. These hard portions of the FMT may chip or otherwise damage the child's teeth, in addition to causing discomfort to the child. Other known FMTs and finger-mounted apparatuses, such as finger-mounted cots and teething devices, also suffer from many of the above-described deficiencies as they are inoperable or ineffective for cleaning a person's teeth. Furthermore, most, if not all, known FMTs are not inviting or do not have an aesthetically pleasing appearance to a child which many parents and children also find problematic.
Therefore, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.